this somewhat. he said you have to put your man in his times. you have to have the detailofcitylifeand country life and what were the roads like, what were the airplanes like. were they pressurized. all of the details have to be there so the character can move through his world and the reader understands and has a feel for it. host: how much reading -- i don't know if you can quantify it -- how much reading did you do? and where did you do it? guest: i had a nice library in the house we bought with a fair place and view of the blue ridge mountains and i had five desks set up in a u with all the material manchester used to cut and paste into his tablets, i had the books, plus speeches and memoirs that were not available when bill was writing. off to the side i a chair, in the dining room a couch and i would take two or three books and notepad and if for instance it is the week before the invasion of russia, mid june of 1941, i've got all the diaries piled up next to one chair, another of all the recollections, speeches churchill may have made, telegrams to roosevelt, warnings to sta